In order to fund their food programs, Guelph Food Bank got creative and opened a thrift store

With demand for their services going up and with donations down, the Guelph Food Bank needed to find a way to keep funding their food programs.

That's when Carolyn McLeod-McCarthy came up with the idea of opening up a thrift store right beside the food bank. 

McLeod-McCarthy said the thrift store is a brand new initiative for Guelph Food Bank. The food bank often gets clothing donations along with food donations, and rather than giving those items away, they would host clothing exchanges or pop-up stores prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

"So what if we turned that into a store that was open to the public?" McLeod-McCarthy told CBC Kitchener-Waterloo. "It became a better business plan for fundraising if we turned it into a store."

Many clothing donations come from the community, but also from nearby clothing stores unloading inventory.

The thrift store aims to start out with just clothing but will eventually introduce household items and furniture, McLeod-McCarthy said. Keeping things affordable is a big part of the store as well, she added. Items sold will cost no more than $10.

"We're not just helping people with food, but we're also helping put clothes on people's back and shoes on their feet," she said.

Food bank sees high demand, but donations are down

The food bank has seen the number of users double since 2021, a sign that people are struggling to make ends meet since the pandemic, McLeod-McCarthy said.

With the high cost of food, the food bank has seen a decline in donations from the community. 

"They're also feeling the pinch. The amount of clients coming in is going up, but the amount of donations are coming down," she said.

The need is so high, the food bank is looking at opening two more satellite locations to serve the community.

Food banks across the province are in a similar situation. In October, the Food Bank of Waterloo Region said they are experiencing the highest need for food assistance in their 39-year history and needed more than double its annual funding from the region to keep up with demand.

A November report from Feed Ontario also showed the number of people who used Ontario food banks went up by almost 40 per cent last year. 

"We saw over 800,000 people access our services almost six million times in the last year — that is the largest single increase on record," Carolyn Stewart, CEO of Feed Ontario told CBC News.

McLeod-McCarthy said she recognizes other food banks are experiencing low donations and high demand, that's why she wants to share her business model with food bank organizations so they can better support themselves.

"If you want to open your own thrift store at your location, we'll have a plan together to make that easier for you to do," she said.